Good morning, readers!

Since the Israel-Hamas conflict began, Russia’s been laying low—or so you thought. Now, they are back at it again, blaming Ukraine for the latest antisemitic attack in a Dagestan airport.

Here we go again.

Today’s hotspots

Russia’s blame game.

Here’s an interesting and unexpected development of the story we reported yesterday regarding the Dagestan protesters who stormed a Dagestan airport in search of Jewish travelers arriving in Dagestan.

Here’s a short preview: Russia is pointing fingers at Ukraine, calling it the puppet master behind the antisemitic attack. This is of course all part of Russia’s narrative to justify its “denazification” mission in Ukraine.

🐾 The blame game.

Russia wasted no time in pointing fingers at its neighbor and rival, Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the “criminal Kyiv regime” played a “direct and key role” in orchestrating the unrest.

But how did Ukraine achieve this?

According to Russia, this debacle is the doing of a former Russian lawmaker, Ilya Ponomarev, who lives in Ukraine and supports Kremlin critics, of funding a Telegram channel that called for the protest.

Ukraine denied any involvement and said that Russia was trying to deflect attention from its own problems.

🐾 The antisemitic wave.

The Dagestan riot is a mere ripple in the tidal wave of antisemitism surging across the region, fueled by the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

A Jewish center in Kabardino-Balkaria, another Russian republic, was torched over the weekend. Israel, condemning the attacks, urged Russia to safeguard its citizens and Jews within its borders.

Quick updates

Click the country's name for more.👇🏻

🇺🇸 United States:

Pentagon plans new nuke.

The US is about to drop a bombshell—literally. The Pentagon has announced plans for a new nuclear gravity bomb that would be 24 times more powerful than the one that devastated Hiroshima in 1945. The bomb, dubbed B61-13, would be dropped from stealth bombers and have a tail kit for accuracy.

The bomb has to be approved by Congress and could be used to persuade them to retire the B83, the biggest US nuke.

✱ NOTE: The announcement was made mere days after China announced its plans to double its nuclear warheads by 2030.

🇮🇳 India:

One more confirmed dead from a prayer meeting explosion.

🔎 Our yesterday’s report:

• 2 women dead.

• 36 injured.

🔎 Today’s numbers:

• 3 dead.

• Over 50 injured.

Tragically, a 12-year-old girl became the third victim of a bomb explosion that ripped through a convention center in Kerala, where over 2,000 people were attending a Jehovah’s Witness prayer meeting. She had died from burn injuries.

✱ NOTE: The blast occurred during the peak of the Hindu festival season, raising security concerns across India.

🇸🇰 Slovakia:

New government cracks down on illegal migrants.

Slovakia’s doors are now shut for migrants. The new populist regime has fortified the Hungarian border with a massive police and military presence to halt undocumented entries. The Prime Minister raises alarm over potential terrorist infiltration amidst the migrant transit to Western Europe.

✱ NOTE: According to the Slovakian government, it has detected an excess of 40,000 illegal migrants this year.

🇰🇷 South Korea:

North Korean ship rescued after drifting near border.

In the tense East Sea, an unexpected guest: a North Korean vessel, stranded and pleading for help near the inter-Korean border.

South Korea’s military didn’t hesitate, providing sustenance to the crew who had been adrift for 10 days, yearning for home. The ship, suspected to be commercial, was eventually towed away by North Korean authorities.

Hope they are not interrogated back home…

✱ NOTE: Just five days prior, another North Korean ship had crossed the border, possibly carrying defectors.